Really, these attacks on Julia Gillard are becoming even more relentless and offensive. Now, because Insiders has dumped Glen Milne as a guest the right-wing reaches of the blogosphere are going ballistic and nuclear! They see a sinister case of censorship by the state. And they would, wouldn't they. In their tiny, literal minds, anything they don't like is either a lie, a betrayal, or some ugly attempt at intimidation. It's just another crazy conspiracy theory to add to an already long list.

You see sometimes, you just have to take people at their word. The ABC's official line is that Milne hasn't lived up to their editorial standards. And while his disgraceful smear of the PM, which was full of vicious lies itself, did figure in the decision, "it was not the only factor".

Obviously, Milne was on notice and needed to lift his game. He didn't and so his services are not required. End of story.

To suggest that Gillard herself had some say in this decision is as offensive as it is absurd. Quite frankly I think any journalist who suggests this is himself guilty of the kind of defamation Milne committed, and should suffer the same fate.

It is ironic that conservatives would have such a twisted view of this event. I mean, they are always demanding that the ABC lift its editorial standards. Yet when it does they don't like it.

They just have to accept that in this case, correlation does not necessarily imply causation. And that's another irony, because that argument is one they are so fond of (falsely) invoking when talking about rising global temperatures and increasing carbon pollution.